Conventionally, remote backup systems enable multiple generations of backups (e.g., snapshot images) of data from a primary site to be mirrored (e.g., stored) at a secondary site in a different geographic area from the primary site. An advantage of remote backup is that it enables a customer to survive a disaster that could destroy data stored at the primary site. Disasters may be man-made, such as power outages, fires, etc.; natural disasters, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, storms, etc.; man-made political disasters, such as riots or terrorist acts, etc.; or some combination of disaster types. By locating data backups remotely, a customer can survive a disaster by restoring data using backed up data mirrored in a remote location that was unaffected by the disaster.
For example, a primary site may be located in California, which occasionally suffers earthquakes. Accordingly, a customer may have a remote backup at a secondary site in a different state that is unaffected by earthquakes. Therefore, if an earthquake does destroy data stored at the primary site, the customer's operations can survive by restoring the destroyed data using backed up data from the secondary (remote) site.
However, as there is usually a significant distance between the primary and secondary sites, it may take a long time to restore lost data from the secondary to primary site. For example, a primary and secondary site may be linked together via a SAN connection, which has a slower data transfer rate as compared to a local connection. Therefore, a restore may take several hours, or even longer, if a large amount of data was lost in a disaster.
Accordingly, a new system and method is needed to enable a customer to restore data quickly.